This year Esselunga along with Armando Testa has decided to celebrate Christmas, by giving Italians the gift of a very special story describing the exclusive relationship Esselunga has with its clients, as told by director Chris Columbus.

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This year Esselunga along with Armando Testa has decided to celebrate Christmas, by giving Italians the gift of a very special story describing the exclusive relationship Esselunga has with its clients, as told by director Chris Columbus.

The director emphasises: “The way Esselunga is based on, and has built on family values made a big impression on me and so it was a privilege and honour to be part of this project”.

This is the great American director’s first venture into the world of advertising and he has created a real little cinematic gem.

With the magic from his “Harry Potter” films the warmth of “Home Alone” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” the result is an exceptional ad of 60” following in the tradition of the big UK and US chain stores during the Holiday season.

Chris Columbus continues: “This is the first time that I have worked with an advertising agency and Armando Testa gave me and my staff the opportunity to create a world which I believe Italian kids will fall in love with: a world never seen before, a magical place!”.

The ad describes an unusual, warm and magical Christmas at the North Pole where, instead of snow, lots of letters are falling down representing the wishes of Italians.

The director concludes: “When I saw the presentation for the first time, I thought it was possible to create Santa Claus’s world in a way that’s never been seen before.I’ve never been satisfied with the way it’s been described in other films and TV programmes. I thought it should have been a warm magical place which would take people’s hands and invite them in ”.

In the images we see Father Christmas and his elves who are so exhausted because they are collecting all the letters, and so many wishes that instead of using their usual sleigh for the gifts decide to use an Esselunga truck, driven bySanta Claus himself which sets off from the Pole for Italy.

Esselunga choseChris Columbus to tell this story and all the magic of Christmas, as well as the best talents from the world of cinema including director of photography John Mathieson (Gladiator) set designer Jon Hutman (The tourist) and costume maker Penny Rose (Pirates of the Caribbean).

The spot was produced by the Production Company Independent, and was filmed in the Pinewood Studios in London, which famously provided the sets for many James Bond films and for “Harry Potter”.

Postproduction by MPC London.

The sound track is a cover of the track “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” by Quiet Please and recorded in the Abbey Road studios in London.

The agency team collaborated with the Esselunga’s Communications Direction, headed by

William Willinghton.

The ad made its debut on Wednesday 30 November on all national and satellite networks. The campaign connected with the ad and with the tie-in promotion“One thousand I-Phone 7s a day for you from 1st to 24th December” will be planned in parallel for radio, outdoor, press, dailies, web, cinema and points of sale.